What is the most SURPRISING incident happen with you while playing OTB tourney?

Yeah this isn't the same position (I don't remember exactly), but i clearly had other winning moves.

I distinctly remember my shortest OTB game ever. 6 moves. I'd been playing the Caro-Kann for about a year or so at this point, and for some reason had not run into this trap before:

My opponenet didn't say anything as he played the move, just waited for m to come to the realization myself, and then stopped the clock. I sat there staring at the position in disbelief. A man in the game next to me leaned over and said, "If it makes you feel any better, I once saw a master lose in that exact same way." Thanks, but it doesn't.

yeah it's a pretty well known trap.

Everyone thought I knew THIS trap when I was 1200 and I played an unrated game against a 600:

And I've SEEN people fall for this when I TD 1100-1200 kid's games.

Lol it is so interesting that I just found this thread, this just happened to me two days ago:

I was playing in the last round of a team tournament, and was pretty happy since I had won all of the previous three. I was, however, playing somebody rated almost 400 USCF higher than myself but it was a pretty even game. She skewered my queen on my rook with her bishop, but I saw the way out of it, taking her queen with mine, so that when she retook I would move my rook. However, right as she recaptured my queen, the fire alarm went off! I never learned why but since there was no fire and this was a scholastic tournament I assume that someone did it as a joke. Anyway, the TDs handled it well, telling us to stop our clocks and go outside. When I came back to move, I forgot that my rook was under attack so I moved a different piece! Obviously, she took the rook and won the game.

nate23 wrote:

My opponent had a passed pawn, I went to capture it with my knight, but accidentally used his knight instead!

My dad does this all the time, don't know why, he is a great chess player but just forgets what side he's playing on!

Also, many people have talked about what to do if your opponent forgets to push his clock. I tell them immeaditly unless they are in time trouble or have forgotten multiple times. However, my good friend and teammate simply decides his next move, moves it, then pushes his opponent's clock then his own. Really, Sean!

Haha, reminds me of a situation that occurs sometimes when 2 boards are next to each other, and a player presses the wrong clock. One time my opponent did this and the guys on the other board got so angry!

haha, that happend to me a buch of times, where my opponent pressed the wrong clock, and the player on the other board always noticed but he didn't realize that my opponent had pressed it and the games were with increment so when the game on the other board finished, they had 1/2 more than they had started with

"Qe2 - dubious move"

How dubious is it really? It only blocks the bishop if you're planning to develop the bishop on that diagonal

Oh, here's another:

In my first tournament (third grade) my opponent moved his queen and declared "checkmate!" I am like, aw, man, I lost, and shook hands. The TD, who was watching this game, tells me that it wasn't mate and I could have taken his queen. However I agreed to it so it was a loss for me.

FakeName6 wrote:

Oh, here's another:

In my first tournament (third grade) my opponent moved his queen and declared "checkmate!" I am like, aw, man, I lost, and shook hands. The TD, who was watching this game, tells me that it wasn't mate and I could have taken his queen. However I agreed to it so it was a loss for me.

Oh, yeah, and part two: In a team tournament just this month, my teammate declares checkmate even though its not. They shook hands on it and were about to reset the board when I, who was still sitting there since I was the team captain, pointed out that its not, but since they shook it counts. My teammate's opponent calls the TD over. I knew the TD would rule in our favor, but when he came over my teammate said never mind and undid his last move. I tried to jump in but the TD shushed me. They ended up playing out the game to a draw.

Both my opponent and myself were in severe time trouble and my opponent queened a pawn to my color and neither me not my opponent noticed it. After repeated "checks" I was mated by a queen of my own color.

A couple of World Open stories.

The first year I went (about 1997) while standing in line to confirm my registration there was a commotion in the hallway.  EMS was rolling out some guy on a gurney.  People said he had just suffered a heart attack.  I stood there thinking...  just how stressful is this tournament going to be?

A few years later (maybe 2003) as I came back from my last game; there was a crowd in the middle of the hallway gathered around a female (IM?) playing a game outside the skittles room.  Curiosity got the best of me.  I tried to get a photo but the crowd was so thick it wasn't practical.  I do remember she was wearing a leather cap.

Anyone have a clue to who that lady was?

lol that's why you ALWAYS verify that it IS before shaking hands.

And why did you point that out? If you would have been quiet he would have won.

lol

Abhishek2, yes, I regret that now. But why did my teammate let it go so easily?

I agree it says in the USCF rulebook or somehting that ONCE HANDS ARE SHAKEN the result is final.

In fact, once I was completely winning and I promoted my pawn and I touched my queen but then I realized it would be stalemate then touched my rook, so he called "touch promote" which I had no idea about. Luckily, neither did the TD's. So, I was allowed to promote to a rook and won easily with a queen and rook on the board. We shook hands and ended the game. After the game turns out the TD's found that there was actually a touch promote rule, but of course it was a day or two after the tournament and nothing could be done.

There is no such "touch promote rule" so the first ruling was indeed correct. It even specifically outlines this under rule 10H in the USCF rulebook (yes, I looked it up for you as the book was right next to me).

really? oh it probably got changed then.

I was at a tournament in Tuscon, AZ. And I looked over to my left, and there he was, playing right next to me...Bobby Fischer.

So after the game, in the lobby of the hotel, I strode over and said..."Hey. I am a class B player. Up for a game?" Well, he was kind of impressed with my rating, so we sat down to play. It was kind of dark, it bothered me a little, so I asked "How is the lighting here? Is it ok?" He said "Yeah, sure." So I said "Well, we could move if its not ok", and he replied "Nah, its just fine. But if you want to move, I am ok with that too." 

Well, we stayed put and played a few games. The man...was....horrible. Way overrated. he would drop knights, bishops, violate the touch move, try to take it back, etc.

Just goes to show legends arent all they are cracked up to be.

Someone once doubted my story, that it was THE Bobby, but it certainly was. His mannerisms were, unmistakebly, Bobby.